Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Cyber war escalates: Pakistani hackers 'take revenge'


Cyber war escalates: Pakistani hackers 'take revenge'

Screenshot of hacked page. A group of hackers going by the name 'Predators PK' have hacked over 200 Indian websites.
A group of Pakistani hackers going by the name of ‘Predators PK’ hacked over 200 Indian websites on Friday, as a form of retaliation to the recent cyber attack on Pakistani sites carried out by the Indian Cyber Army (ICA).
The hackers’ modus operandi was similar to the ICA attack, with pages developed by the hackers being inserted onto Indian servers and sites being hacked to root level. While the ICA had focused on hacking government websites, Predators PK focused on India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (http://cbi.nic.in/), college websites, NGOs, Indian companies and firms and religious sites among others. Some of the sites appeared damaged while a majority of the sites were still functional aside from hosting the page inserted by the hackers.
Unlike the ICA attack which was cited as ‘revenge for 26/11′, the page inserted by Pakistani hackers did not suggest ideological motivations, but simply revenge. The principal message by a hacker going by the handle, HEX786 read:
This is Just A Warning To All Script Kiddies Indians Hackers. Stop Being no0bs and Defacing Pakistani Web Sites Dont prove Us to Do Something. Your Security Was good But We Like Breaking it !

Eiffel Tower shut and roads blocked by Paris snowfall

Eiffel Tower shut and roads blocked by Paris snowfall.

Children play in snow near Eiffel Tower (8 Dec 2010)

Heavy snow in Paris brought buses to a halt on Wednesday, suspended flights at Charles de Gaulle airport and prompted the closure of the Eiffel Tower.
Motorways in the Paris region were described as impassable as snow that had already hit other areas of France spread to the capital.
Elsewhere in Europe, a boy drowned in southern Spain when his father's car was swept into a flooded river.
In Poland, a further three people died because of the extreme cold.
The authorities there said 66 people had lost their lives since the severe wintry weather began in late November.
Record snow
The Meteo France service reported that one of its Paris weather stations had recorded 11cm (4.5in) of snow. The French capital has not seen a larger one-day snowfall since 1987.
Although the Paris Metro and rail network were operating normally on Wednesday, Charles de Gaulle airport closed for part of the afternoon until workers were able to clear the runways of snow.
The operators of the Eiffel Tower decided to close the monument as salt could not be used to tackle the snow and ice because of possible damage to the iron structure.
The national centre for traffic information described secondary routes in the Paris region as "catastrophic". By mid-afternoon, the bus operator RATP declared that not a single bus was running.
Scottish chaos
Two people walk along a flooded street  in the town of Ecija, southern Spain Thousands of people were moved out of Ecija in southern Spain
Scottish Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson faced calls to stand down because of the government's handling of the appalling conditions that left hundreds of drivers stranded in their cars on Monday night.
A large part of the M8 motorway between Scotland's two biggest cities, Edinburgh and Glasgow, was reopened on Wednesday afternoon, two days after ice and snow forced its closure.
In Spain, police recovered the body of a nine-year-old boy from a river bank after the car he was in was hit by water overflowing from the River Alcudia near the southern town of Almodovar del Campo.
His father and elder brother managed to escape the car and survived.
Flooding has forced the authorities in Ecija in Andalucia to move 3,000 people from their homes after the River Genil burst its banks.

 

YouTube is the New Viral

You Tube is the New Viral



A cable show might get 100,000 viewers. Compare that to a small group of YouTube celebrities like Shane Dawson who gets over a million online views a daily. Brands have begun to realize that YouTube celebrities get more views than they do. The next step is to leverage those audiences.

I spoke to Ricky Ray Butler, the owner of Plaid Marketing, about a campaign that his company is doing for Just Dance 2, a game for the Wii. Plaid Video put together a plan to leverage YouTube celebs by challenging six of them to stage a dance off. Competitors include: Tobuscus, Michael Buckley, JoeNation, Swift Karate Chop, thefinebros and Olga Kay.

They posted their dances on YouTube and asked their fans to vote for them. To vote, the fans had to go to the Just Dance Facebook Page and “Like” the page. Naturally, this campaign sent a lot of YouTube traffic over to the brand’s Facebook Page.

The strategy has been effective. Just Dance’s Facebook Page had less than 3,000 fans in August and are up to almost 185,000 today. 60,000 of those are from the last two weeks. The campaign also included offline dance contests in places like Times Square, as well as a team of bloggers they’ve dubbed UbiChamps, and a popular dance booth at BlogHer.

The celebs have a larger following than the brand, but it’s not just "views" that brands are after -- they want to build their own fan base. Retention and interaction are key to the success of the campaign. “We help brands not only get a lot of views, but we help them grow a following similar to a YouTube celebrity. Then they go to Facebook and become fans. That sets up a longer term relationship for the brand,” said Butler.

It’s working. AdWeek reported that GE tapped 15 YouTubers to make a series of videos for their "Tag Your Green" campaign. Three weeks later, the videos had over 12 million views.

Carl’s Jr tapped nine YouTube celebs including iJustine to launch their new Portobello Mushroom burger. The list goes on and on (see this Mashable post about about five brands that have successfully marketed on YouTube).

As for small businesses, the $20k price tag that some of the stars command can be a bit steep. So businesses without a big budget, like Original Skateboards, went the DIY route, starring in their own videos. After putting their videos on YouTube, sales at the company went up 40 percent. They decided the numbers made it worth it to set up a team to create videos full time.

Orabrush turned Austin Craig into “the Orabrush guy” and the videos he stars in put the small business on the map. It turned a new company that couldn’t turn a profit with an infomercial into a company doing $1 million in sales. Their online success has recently exploded into offline media coverage, starting with an article in the New York Times. That coverage has led to shelf space -- more stores are stocking the tongue scraper.

There's a little more to it than creating a killer video and telling your friends, though. Note that with most “viral” videos, you need to give them a push. The market is crowded. YouTube says that as of October they get 35 hours of video uploaded per minute on the site. Original Skateboards says they use a combination of promoted videos (YouTube advertising), print ads, Google AdWords and word of mouth to grow viewership.

Perhaps the most powerful element of YouTube marketing besides personality is connecting to a community and interacting with them. People loved how the Old Spice Guy responded to their comments in his videos and that helped fuel even more word of mouth.

Next New Networks gave some great advice on its YouTube blog that can be applied to any social media campaign. “YouTube is a social platform. Your audience wants to talk to you. Ask them questions. Get opinions and then feature them in your videos. You are leading a conversation.”

Hands on with the Chrome Web Store

Hands on with the Chrome Web Store.

I spent some time this morning in the Chrome Web Store, announced yesterday along with information about its Chrome OS. I walked away with two thoughts: “Nice work, Google!” and “This is the sort of thing that will lock me into Chrome.”
I’ve used Chrome for some time, quite happily. As with most browsers, 4-5 windows with 10-15 tabs a piece works well for my ADD-addled brain and the workspace I like to keep available to myself all of the time, but it eats up memory faster than you would believe. Chrome, particular on my Mac, seems to eat up resources especially quickly, so I’ve spent time recently with Safari, Firefox, Opera, and even IE in a Windows 7 virtual machine.
I keep coming back to Chrome for its easy interface, integrated search, handy extensions, impressive speed, and integrated security/stability tools (especially Chrome 8). If I had any doubt, though, about my browser of choice, Chrome’s Web Store just took care of them. The Web Store looks much like the Google Apps Marketplace (that’s a good thing; I wish their Android Marketplace would take a lesson from it), and it’s easy to find a variety of free and paid applications that work right within your browser.
Once you install a few apps, a blank browser window or tab brings you to a dashboard of your Apps, as well as some of your recently closed and most popular pages.
Looks kind of like a desktop, doesn’t it? Interestingly, the Google Apps “app” (not installed here - this image is small enough) is nothing more than a link to your Google Apps. However, because the link has an icon associated with it now, it contributes to the feel of applications that can be launched right from your good old Windows desktop. Only that desktop is your browser and we’ve just seen a decent picture of how Google is going to pull of its Chrome OS.
More utilitarian apps (one to take screen shots, for example), go into a Chrome toolbar with other extensions (also available now through the Chrome Web Store).

While there are many beta snags (the TweetDeck app, for example, repeatedly failed to load all of my columns and “Awesome Screenshot: Capture and Annotate (which really does have awesome tools for inline editing of screenshots) could only capture about a third of the areas it was supposed to), the basics of a web app store are polished.
To be honest, until I tried it, I didn’t completely “get it.” What sort of “web apps” were out there, just waiting to be integrated with my browser that didn’t already exist as a rich website that could just be opened in a new tab? I spend most of my time in a browser anyway and when I’m not, I’m using something like PhotoShop or Captivate; these are obviously not going to run in a browser tab.
However, for those times when you are in a browser (or if you are using Chrome OS), a web app store allows your web experience to be richer and means that more of what you do can be done natively in that same browser. And when you’re Google and trying to convince people that they should buy Chrome OS notebooks and never leave their browser, you better give them something to do inside that browser.
In this, the Chrome Web Store absolutely succeeds. Even at launch, beta issues and all, there are games, productivity applications, drawing applications, and even a slick “Window Shopping” app from Amazon.
The Window Shopping app has an embedded navigation button that literally lets you walk…I mean scroll…along a virtual representation of what would be Amazon’s window displays if it was a brick and mortar estabishment.
There’s already a lot of utility (and a lot of fun) in the Web Store. The world just might be ready for Chrome OS after all. And I’m officially even more wedded to Chrome (the browser) than I ever was before.

 

Nice Guys Can Finish First

Nice Guys Can Finish First
Nice Guys Can Finish First



Q: I'd like to ask a philosophical question: I have been trying to get my business off the ground, and I often feel that I have to get very aggressive with suppliers and service providers. I hate being aggressive, but I hate it more when my success (and survival) is hampered by others who don't perform as they should.


I have come to believe that only very aggressive people get ahead. Yet I look at you and wonder: Are you aggressive in business or do you have a technique that serves you well while keeping your composure when faced with trying situations? I once met you and found you to be very friendly and relatively soft-spoken.


-Marco, South Africa


A: Thanks, Marco -- a nice set of easy questions to start off with!


Take the one about aggression. There are many ways to get your point across and make your business successful without being aggressive. Always remember that you love what you do and your role is to persuade others to love your business, too, and, therefore, to want to work with you.


I hope we are successful at Virgin because we engage with everyone in a positive, inclusive manner rather than in an aggressive, combative or negative way.


If the companies or individuals you deal with do not respond to a positive approach, ask yourself if they are the companies you should work with. For every aggressive supplier out there, there are another five that will want to work with you -- in a way that allows you and your business to be true to a more inclusive and positive partnership.


The tone of your question suggests that not knowing how to deal with under-performing staff causes you a lot of stress. If a member of your team is not performing as you expect, don't write him or her off immediately. At Virgin, if an employee is not doing well in one area, I feel that he or she should be given the opportunity to try out in a different Virgin job.


Firing people should never be your first option. In some cases, when letting people go is your only option, prepare for the conversation with constructive suggestions about why it is not working out and other ideas the employee should pursue. That will help make the process easier for both of you.


I agree that a strong personality is a great asset when starting up your business. So is confidence to follow a vision. But listening to others and the art of delegation are key skills to add to the mix.


It's often hard to get past your own feelings of frustration when dealing with others. Delegating to a member of your team brings a fresh pair of eyes and often a different approach and perspective.


One of my key lessons over the years has been to surround myself with great management teams who complement me and ensure that we have the all-around skills to make our businesses succeed. Our chief executives at Virgin Group and businesses like Active, America, Atlantic, Trains and Money have built strong businesses blending their personalities and skills on top of the Virgin culture I helped found.


As for negotiation: The key is to remain calm and collected. If you are getting angry, take a deep breath, realize you are taking it too personally and, even, take a step back. Rely on those around you to help you out. Teamwork can often win.


You can negotiate competitively without aggression. Understand what you want to achieve and what leverage you possess to help you reach your goals. Less aggression and more determination is what you need.


I often find, after a tough set of talks, that it is helpful to go out for a drink or two to get it off your chest! You may have a sore head in the morning, but relying on and confiding in your team will often help you put everything in perspective.


As entrepreneurs we have to make tough calls. You ask if this requires a ruthless streak. I don't think I'm ruthless (although a few people who don't really know me and have never met me have portrayed me that way!). Actually, it is counterproductive to be ruthless. People tend to come back and do more business if they feel they have done well with you. That attitude has helped me over the years to attract and keep good partners and staff.


My ability to listen to other people and accept it when their suggestions are better than mine has been useful during my 40 years in business. I'm never too proud to admit I'm wrong or take action when others' suggestions are better.


My last suggestion is: Remember to have fun. There is no point in being in business if it is not fun. Have fun with your team, your suppliers and the companies you work with. It is so much more rewarding to build up rapport than to find yourself in a constant battle. Don't take everything so personally. Let your hair down now and again. And have some fun. Look at me -- it's a philosophy that has served me well for 40 years!

Protests planned as MPs vote on tuition fee rises

Protests planned as MPs vote on tuition fee rises


student protest

The controversy over raising tuition fees in England to £9,000 per year is due to reach its climax, with a vote by MPs and plans for student protests.

The coalition government, facing its first major rebellion, wants to limit the scale of backbench opposition to plans to almost treble fees.

More than a dozen Liberal Democrat MPs are expected to vote against the move.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes has said he will abstain or even rebel against the government.

The vote in the House of Commons on far-reaching changes to higher education funding will be the culmination of weeks of political divisions and student protests.

Concessions offered

Liberal Democrat MPs have been under intense pressure - after their election pledge to vote against any fee increase.

Party leader Nick Clegg, who has become a target for student anger, has said that all Lib Dem ministers will vote in favour of the plan to raise fees.

Meanwhile his own party's youth wing is holding last-ditch talks to persuade Lib Dem MPs to vote against the fee rise.

In an attempt to bolster support, ministers announced further concessions on repayment thresholds which would make the fee package more generous to students.

However, Mr Hughes said: "I have a duty to listen to my local party members and my supporters in my constituency, and they have asked me, on this occasion, to rebel against and break the coalition agreement.

"They believe that's important for our community and important given where the Liberal Party traditionally has been against tuition fees."

Labour and Conservative leaders clashed angrily over the fees proposals.

David Cameron accused the Labour party of "rank hypocrisy" for opposing the rise in fees - while Ed Miliband said the university plans were in "chaos".

The package of measures would see fees rising to an upper limit of £9,000 per year - with requirements for universities to protect access for poorer students if they charge more than £6,000 per year.

College occupations

The proposals to raise fees have triggered a wave of student and school pupil protests, with a march last month leading to an attack on the Conservative headquarters in Millbank.

Dozens of universities have been occupied by students - with students in five more universities occupying buildings this week.

For the first time, there have also been occupations of schools by pupils.

Students are threatening to "shut down London" in a day of protests.

Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students, urged MPs to "do the honourable thing and vote down these damaging proposals".

"Students are now descending on Westminster to ensure that promises to voters are kept and they are not sold down the river," said Mr Porter.

As well as protests planned by the NUS, there are radical groups planning demonstrations, with "flashmobs" organised on social networking websites.

There has been no consensus within the university sector about the fees deal.

The university lecturers' union has backed student protesters - while university vice chancellors have been split over whether to support or oppose the fees plan.

The proposals to raise fees would apply to students in England. Welsh students will not pay the higher rate of fees, even at universities in England. In Scotland there are no tuition fees - and Northern Ireland has still to decide how it will respond to any fee rise in England.

Nokia 888

Nokia 888

Nokia 888 is a concept mobile phone , with a bracelet-like design that has never been endorsed by Nokia. This mobile phone concept has been designed by the industrial designer Tamer Nakisci and won the Benelux design contest in 2005. Three years have passed since the award and still no mobile phone company has put it in practice.

The phone has an amazing design , you can fold it in many ways according to your needs. You can wear it as a bracelet , roll it , bend it and wear it as a clip on your clothes. It is amazing how fun this mobile can be.

Nokia 888 Concept is mostly targeted to teenagers that are very active and take place in a lot of different activities.

Nokia 888 communicator concept phone

Nokia 888 communicator concept phone

nokia 888


Now, you're not going to see this in stores any time soon. But if you'd like to get an idea of what Nokia thinks the future of communications will look like, take a look at the Nokia 888 communicator, a concept design that recently won Nokia's Benelux design contest. The bracelet-like 888 is envisioned to use a liquid battery, feature speech recognition, a flexible touch screen, and a touch sensitive body cover. A video showing off the device's potential features shows off close to a dozen functions, including an alarm clock, PDA, GPS, phone, push email receiver, digital wallet and, of course, jewelry. And, other than the "liquid battery," we can actually see this in the not-too-distant future. Just give us some full-color E-ink, flexible OLED displays and inkjet-printed circuit boards, and we're almost there.

Health Benefits of Cucumber

Health Benefits of Cucumber


Cucumber is a fruit that came from the same family as pumpkin, zucchini and other squashes. It has a dark green rind and white succulent flesh. There are 2 types of cucumbers the pickling varieties and the slicing varieties. The pickling variety is relatively small (2 - 4 inches long).

Nutritive Values : Per 100 gm.

  • Vitamin A 180 I.U.
  • Niacin Trace
  • Vitamin C 9 mg.
  • Calcium 32 mg.
  • Iron 1.8 mg.
  • Phosphorus 27 mg.
  • Potassium 80 mg.
  • Carbohydrates 17 gm.
  • Calories 70

Reported Health Benefits :

  • Cucumber is best natural diuretic known, secreting and promoting the flow of urine.
  • Helps in kidney and urinary bladder disease.
  • Liver disease
  • Pancreatic disease
  • The potassium content of cucumber makes it highly useful for conditions of high and low blood pressure.
  • Cucumber contains erepsin, the enzyme that helps to digest protein.
  • The high silicon and sulphur content of the cucumber is said to promote the growth of hair, especially when the juice of the cucumber is added to the juice of carrot, lettuce and spinach.
  • A mixture of cucumber juice with carrot juice is said to be beneficial for rheumatic conditions resulting from excessive uric acid in the body.
  • Cucumber juice is also valuable for helping diseases of the teeth, gums, especially in cases of pyorrhea.
  • The high mineral content of this vegetable also helps to prevent splitting of nails of the fingers and toes.
  • Cucumber, radish and bitter gourd are beneficial in diabetes.

AIG, Treasury plan large stock sale: sources

AIG, Treasury plan large stock sale: sources.

 The American International Group (AIG) building is seen in New York's financial district March 16, 2009. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid(Reuters) - American International Group Inc (AIG.N) and the Treasury Department are planning a large stock offering for the first half of 2011 which could see the government cut its stake in the bailed-out insurer by as much as 20 percentage points, sources familiar with the matter said.
AIG and the Treasury would both sell stock in the offering, which could total more than $10 billion, according to the sources.
The Treasury is set to own 92.1 percent in AIG after a plan that charts an eventual exit from its investment in the bailed-out insurer closes by the end of the first quarter. AIG got a $182.3 billion taxpayer-funded aid package during the financial crisis.
An offering could come as early as March, but the discussions are preliminary, and the exact size and timing have not been decided, the sources said.
"We hope to be able to go to the market with a public offering of AIG this spring, but we have work to do to make that happen," AIG spokesman Mark Herr said. "We are working as diligently as we can to achieve this as quickly as possible, subject to market conditions.
"We remain committed to executing the steps and meeting all conditions in the recapitalization agreement as soon as possible," he said.
The Treasury declined to comment. The sources are anonymous because these discussions are not public.
AIG's shares were off 0.8 percent to $43.62 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Paritosh Bansal and Ben Berkowitz; Additional reporting by David Lawder in Washington; editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Tim Dobbyn)

The Android 3.0 tablet: no buttons

The Android 3.0 tablet..no buttons.

 Unlike Samsung's Galaxy Tab, pictured above, Google is working directly with Motorola on an upcoming tablet.

 -- Just hours after Google unwrapped the newest version of its smartphone operating system, Android head Andy Rubin gave a peek at the next major release, which will cater to tablets.
At the D: Dive Into Mobile conference kickoff event Monday night, Rubin removed a fabric case from his bag and unzipped it to unveil a black hunk of plastic.
"This isn't due out for a while," Rubin began.
The device, he explained, is a tablet computer that Google is working on with Motorola.
The hardware along with the software it was running bear resemblances to Apple's iPad. Many electronics makers are working on Android tablets with screens that measure 7 inches diagonally. The iPad has a 9.7-inch display, and this mystery device looked to the naked eye about that size.
Notably, the prototype tablet lacks the signature four buttons used to navigate the Android system. This is on purpose, Rubin said.

Australian FM blames U.S. for WikiLeaks cables

Australian FM blames U.S. for WikiLeaks cables.

 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Australia FM Kevin Rudd, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in November.

London (CNN) -- The MasterCard website suffered a cyberattack apparently linked to the WikiLeaks scandal Wednesday, as Australia's foreign minister blamed the United States for WikiLeaks' massive leak of diplomatic cables and military information.
A MasterCard spokesman would not comment on who was behind the cyberattack -- which left the corporate website inaccessible but did not affect the use of its cards -- but various news agencies reported supporters of WikiLeaks were responsible, and a Twitter account sympathetic to WikiLeaks claimed responsibility.
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, meanwhile, said the people who originally leaked the documents -- not WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange -- are legally liable, and he told Reuters news agency the leaks raised questions about the "adequacy" of U.S. security.
"I have been pretty consistent about where the core responsibility lies in this entire matter and that lies with the release of an unauthorized nature of this material by U.S. personnel," Rudd told Reuters.
"Mr. Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorized release of 250,000 documents from the U.S. diplomatic communications network," Rudd told the agency. "The Americans are responsible for that."
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard took a different tack this week, calling WikiLeaks "grossly irresponsible" for distributing the documents. The "foundation stone is an illegal act that certainly breached the laws of the United States of America," she said.
The WikiLeaks website began posting the secret diplomatic cables online November 28. The documents reveal private communications between U.S. diplomats and the State Department about a host of world leaders and affairs and have provoked outrage in the United States and elsewhere.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said the cables put national security at risk, comments echoed by a spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron. Supporters of WikiLeaks say the cables reveal information the public has a right to know.
WikiLeaks is now the subject of a U.S. criminal investigation, and Holder said he has authorized "significant" actions as part of the probe, though he refused to say what they are.
No one has been charged in the U.S. investigation of the leaked cables, but a U.S. Army private is a prime suspect in previous leaks by WikiLeaks. Bradley Manning has been charged with leaking U.S. military video of a 2007 helicopter strike in Iraq that killed two Reuters journalists as well as removing classified information from military computers.

U.S. fiscal health worse than Europe's: China adviser

U.S. fiscal health worse than Europe's: China adviser.

 A customer counts U.S. dollar notes at a bank in Hanoi November 29, 2010. REUTERS/Kham(Reuters) -
The U.S. dollar will be a safe investment for the next six to 12 months because global markets are focused on the euro zone's troubles but America's fiscal health is worse than Europe's, an adviser to the Chinese central bank said on Wednesday.
Li Daokui, an academic member of the central bank's monetary policy committee, said that U.S. bond prices and the dollar would fall when the European economic situation stabilized.
"For now, market attention is still on Europe and for the coming 6-12 months, it will not shift to the United States," Li said, when asked about U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to extend tax cuts for all Americans.
"But we should be clear in our minds that the fiscal situation in the United States is much worse than in Europe. In one or two years, when the European debt situation stabilizes, attention of financial markets will definitely shift to the United States. At that time, U.S. Treasury bonds and the dollar will experience considerable declines."
U.S. Treasury prices fell sharply for a second day on Wednesday as the proposed tax deal sparked concerns over the government's ability to service its massive debt burden. Moody's Investors Service said it is worried the tax cuts could become permanent, hurting U.S. finances and credit ratings in the long run.
In Europe, Ireland's parliament passed the first in a series of resolutions underpinning its 2011 austerity budget on Tuesday, marking the first step in a lengthy approval process. But investors are now worried that the region's debt crisis could engulf Portugal next, or Spain.
China has a big stake in the performance of dollar assets. The country holds the world's biggest stock pile of foreign exchange reserves at $2.64 trillion and an estimated two-thirds of that is invested in dollar assets, including U.S. Treasuries.
The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), an arm of the central bank, is responsible for managing the reserves.
Li was speaking on the sidelines of a financial forum in Beijing. He sits on the monetary policy committee of the central bank but does not have real influence on key decisions on interest rates and the yuan.
ROBUST CHINA GROWTH
China's annual economic growth will exceed 9.5 percent in 2011 and will remain above 9 percent through the coming decade, Li told the forum.
The long-term growth outlook would be underpinned by the need to continue investing in infrastructure, he said.
"China has a vast domestic demand that is untapped, and that's the fundamental difference between China now and Japan in 1985," Li told a forum.
In addition, China would have to spend a lot on "low carbon" industries, lending more support for the economy, he said.
Li also predicted that global commodities prices, including oil, would rise sharply next year.
Speculation about a Chinese interest rate rise in the coming days has intensified after an official newspaper flagged the chances of an imminent move amid expectations of rising inflation in November.

What is Wikileaks?

What is Wikileaks?

Wikileaks logo 

Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has dominated the news, both because of its steady drip feed of secret documents, but also because of the dealings of its enigmatic front man Julian Assange.
The recent release of thousands of sensitive diplomatic cables is just the latest in a long list of "leaks" published by the secretive site, which has established a reputation for publishing sensitive material from governments and other high-profile organisations.
In October the site released almost 400,000 secret US military logs detailing its operations in Iraq.
They followed hot on the heels of nearly 90,000 classified military records, which gave an insight into the military strategy in Afghanistan.
And in April 2010, for example, Wikileaks posted a video on its website that shows a US Apache helicopter killing at least 12 people - including two Reuters journalists - during an attack in Baghdad in 2007.
A US military analyst is currently awaiting trial, on charges of leaking the material along with the cables and military documents.
Legal wrangles However, the site's recent prominence is part of a longer and controversial history that started in December 2006, when it first hit the net.


Money matters
But more recently, the site has faced new challenges.
The private life of Mr Assange, its editor-in-chief, has been laid bare and it has lost key staff and supporters.


"[To] keep our sources safe, we have had to spread assets, encrypt everything, and move telecommunications and people around the world to activate protective laws in different national jurisdictions - Julian Assange
The site has also been targeted in a series of cyber attacks. Various firms - including web Giant Amazon - have also terminated agreements to host the site and provide services to it.
In addition, companies - including Mastercard, Visa and PayPal - have withdrawn the ability that allows people to donate to the site. Its Swiss Bank account has also been closed.
But it is not the first time that the site has faced financial problems. In February 2010 it suspended operations as it could not afford its own running costs. Donations from individuals and organisations saved the site.
Only time will tell, if it can do it again with many sources of funding now cut off.
Despite all of these setbacks, Wikileaks has largely remained defiantly online. It has moved its operations between various companies and countries. It has also encouraged volunteers to set up "mirrors" of the - hosted on different servers around the world.
"[To] keep our sources safe, we have had to spread assets, encrypt everything, and move telecommunications and people around the world to activate protective laws in different national jurisdictions," Mr Assange said earlier this year.
Throughout its history, the site has been supported and hosted by the Swedish ISP PeRiQuito (PRQ), which became famous for hosting file-sharing website The Pirate Bay.
"If it is legal in Sweden, we will host it, and will keep it up regardless of any pressure to take it down," the ISP's site says.
The ISP continues to host its most recent - and most controversial - documents.
The site also hosts documents in other jurisdictions, including France.
Its experience of different laws around the world meant that it was drafted to help Icelandic MPs draw up plans for its Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI) earlier this year
The plan calls on the country's government to adopt laws protecting journalists and their sources.

PayPal says US advised it to stop Wikileaks payments

PayPal says US advised it to stop Wikileaks payments.

PayPal employee walking into one of the firm's officesPayPal has said that its decision to stop users from using its service to make donations to Wikileaks was made after advice from the US government.
A senior official at the online payments firm said the State Department had told it that the activities of the website were illegal in the US.
PayPal suspended payments to Wikileaks last week, and has been followed by Visa Europe and Mastercard.
Amazon and Swiss bank PostFinance have also cut ties with Wikileaks.
PayPal's clarification came from the firm's vice-president Osama Bedier.
He said the company had carried out its actions after receiving a letter from the State Department, adding that it was a "straightforward" decision.
PayPal is owned by US online auction giant eBay.
Legal threat On Tuesday, Mastercard said that it was suspending payments to Wikileaks "until the situation is resolved".

Legal threat
On Tuesday, Mastercard said that it was suspending payments to Wikileaks "until the situation is resolved".
Mastercard and Visa cards Datacell says Visa and Mastercard's decisions could harm its own business
This was followed by Visa Europe on Wednesday, which said it would be carrying out an investigation into the whistle-blowing website.
Visa Europe said it wanted to determine whether the nature of Wikileaks' business "contravenes Visa operating rules".
Both companies are now facing the threat of legal action from the IT company that enables Wikileaks to accept credit and debit card donations.
Swiss-based Datacell said it would move immediately to try to force Visa Europe and Mastercard to resume allowing payments to the whistle-blowing website.
Datacell added that Visa Europe and Mastercard's actions could harm its own business.
Visa Europe and Mastercard have yet to comment on the legal threat.
Datacell's chief executive Andreas Fink urged Visa to "just simply do their business where they are good at - transferring money".
Datacell added that the suspension would last for an initial seven days, but this has yet to be confirmed by Visa Europe.
The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, was arrested in London on Tuesday, connected to sexual assault allegations in Sweden.
He was refused bail, but has vowed to fight extradition.

Google's humbler Nexus S strategy emerges

Google's humbler Nexus S strategy emerges.

 

Google's new Nexus S looks to be a nice phone, but it's not being touted as a revolutionary one the way the Nexus One was in January..

Gone was the special event, gone were the predictions of mobile-market upheaval: the second iteration of Google's Nexus phone strategy was announced to the world with a simple blog post.
And that makes perfect sense; given the lessons Google's Android team learned in 2010 while trying to balance a good tech idea with real-world business needs. Like the Nexus One first unveiled in January, today's launch of the Nexus S reveals a stripped-down fast smartphone with some futuristic features and the most current edition of Android that delivers "the pure Google experience," the company said in that post.
Unlike the Nexus One, which was announced at a much-hyped press event by Google's Andy Rubin alongside HTC CEO Peter Chou and Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha, the Nexus S was unaccompanied by any promises to disrupt the mobile market with unlocked phones and Web-only sales. Best Buy, the picture of the consumer electronics establishment, will be the exclusive carrier of the Nexus S when it launches next week for $529 (unlocked) or $199 with a two-year T-Mobile contract.
There are very practical reasons for Google to produce a "pure Google experience" phone to help increase Android momentum. Software developers need to have early access to new operating system releases to make sure their apps will work well on the new release. However, Google's Android model allows wireless carriers and handset makers to dictate the pace at which their customers receive Android updates, meaning some app developers on one carrier might not be able to see new releases before customers on another carrier start running the software, which isn't good.
There are also loftier reasons for building such a phone, as Rubin espoused in January at the Nexus One event. Back then, Google was full of promises about disruption and liberation, with plans to free consumers from two-year contracts, end exclusive deals between carriers and handset makers for new phones, and relieve the drudgery of in-store shopping.
Believe it or not, the established mobile industry--the very companies that have allowed Android to be a success--wasn't necessarily on board with those ideas. Carriers withdrew promised support for the Nexus One, and without broad carrier support Google was forced to do exactly what it didn't want to do: offer a phone effectively locked to a single carrier.
And so this time around, the Nexus S is being promoted simply based on hardware and software. It's a basically a Googlized version of the Samsung Galaxy S, with the near-field communications chips that Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke about last month and could one day let you use your phone as a credit card. Android 2.3, known as Gingerbread, will bring a new virtual keyboard and a simpler user interface when it ships with the Nexus S on December 16, long before it reaches other Android phones.
This phone is not being billed as the key to a revolution in the smartphone industry. Judging by comments on Twitter this morning, there's likely a sizable contingent inside Google that still hopes to make that happen some day--when the "pure Google experience" goes beyond software--but that day is not today.
So what remains of Google's larger goals with its own branded smartphones? We may get a chance to find out when Rubin speaks tonight at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference in San Francisco, where he's expected to show off the Nexus S.
But it's clear that for now, Google has chosen to concentrate on its original Android promise of giving wireless carriers and handset makers around the world a free, competitive smartphone operating system to serve as a hedge against Apple and iOS. Tearing down that industry might have to wait for another day.

Wikileaks: Australia FM blames US, not Julian Assange

Wikileaks: Australia FM blames US, not Julian Assange

Australia's foreign minister has said the US is to blame for the release of thousands of diplomatic cables on Wikileaks, not its Australian founder, Julian Assange.

Kevin Rudd said the release raised questions about US security.

Mr Rudd said he did not "give a damn" about criticism of him in the cables.

Mr Assange, arrested in the UK over sex crime allegations in Sweden, has accused the Australian government of "disgraceful pandering" to the US.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard had earlier called Mr Assange's release of the cables "grossly irresponsible".

Over the past two weeks, Wikileaks has released thousands of classified messages from US envoys around the world, from more than 250,000 it has been given.

Washington has called their publication "irresponsible" and an "attack on the international community".

'First class job'

In an interview with Reuters news agency, Mr Rudd said: "Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorised release of 250,000 documents from the US diplomatic communications network. The Americans are responsible for that."

Analysis

The Australian government has found itself in the anomalous position of offering consular assistance to Julian Assange after his arrest in London, while at the same time being highly critical of his part in leaking sensitive US diplomatic cables.

Julian Assange has written an opinion piece for The Australian newspaper which is scathing in its criticism of the Gillard government, accusing her of "trying to shoot the messenger".

The case of Julian Assange is already drawing comparisons here with the detention of an Australian, David Hicks, at Guantanamo Bay. Hicks, who trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, was found guilty of providing material support for terrorism by an American military tribunal. But he became something of a folk hero for many Australians, because of the widespread feeling that he was treated unfairly by the Americans after being detained at Guantanamo Bay without trial.

Mr Rudd, the former prime minister who was replaced by Julia Gillard in June, added: "I think there are real questions to be asked about the adequacy of [the US] security systems and the level of access that people have had to that material.

"The core responsibility, and therefore legal liability, goes to those individuals responsible for that initial unauthorised release."

The White House has ordered US government agencies to tighten their handling of classified documents in the wake of the Wikileaks releases.

Mr Rudd was dismissed in one leaked US cable as a "mistake-prone control freak".

In cables published by the Sydney Morning Herald former US ambassador Robert McCallum said Mr Rudd made "snap announcements without consulting other countries or within the Australian government".

The US was also angered at what it called Mr Rudd's "self-serving and inaccurate leaking" of a phone call with then US President George W Bush in which Mr Rudd was reported as saying: "Stunned to hear Bush say, 'What's the G20?'"

Mr Rudd shrugged off the criticism, saying: "I'm sure much worse has been written about me in the past and probably much worse will be written about me in the future but frankly, mate, I don't care.

Main Leaks So Far

  • Fears that terrorists may acquire Pakistani nuclear material
  • Several Arab leaders urged attack on Iran over nuclear issue
  • US instructs spying on key UN officials
  • China's changing ties with North Korea
  • Yemen approved US strikes on militants
  • Personal and embarrassing comments on world leaders
  • Afghan leader Hamid Karzai freed dangerous detainees
  • Russia is a "virtual mafia state" with widespread corruption and bribery
  • Afghan President Hamid Karzai is "paranoid and weak". Extent of corruption in Afghanistan
  • Chinese leadership "hacked Google"
  • A list of key global facilities the US says are vital to its national security
  • UK fears over Lockerbie bomber

"My job's just to act in Australia's national interest as Australia's foreign minister. I don't, frankly, give a damn about this sort of thing. You just get on with it."

Ms Gillard defended Mr Rudd, saying: "He's bringing [his] expertise to bear for the Australian nation and doing an absolutely first class job."

Mr Assange has been highly critical of the Australian government's stance on the release of the cables.

In an opinion piece in The Australian on Wednesday, Mr Assange accused the Australian government of "disgraceful pandering" to the Americans and of putting the powers of the government fully at the disposal of the US.

In the piece headlined "Don't shoot the messenger for revealing uncomfortable truths", he says: "Democratic societies need a strong media and Wikileaks is part of that media. The media helps keep government honest."

He adds: "The Australian attorney-general is doing everything he can to help a US investigation clearly directed at framing Australian citizens and shipping them to the US."

Mr Assange has been refused bail by a court in London but has vowed to fight extradition to Sweden.

He denies sexually assaulting two women in Sweden but was remanded in custody pending a hearing next week.

Mr Assange's lawyer, Mark Stephens, has claimed the charges are "politically motivated".

On a visit to Serbia on Wednesday, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said there had been no contact with US authorities about the possible extradition of Mr Assange from Sweden to the US.

The US has begun a criminal investigation and vowed to punish anyone found responsible for illegal leaks.

No-one has been charged with passing the diplomatic files to Wikileaks, but suspicion has fallen on US Army private Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst arrested in Iraq in June and charged over an earlier leak.

Mastercard sites down, Anonymous claims responsibility

Mastercard sites down, Anonymous claims responsibility.

Operation Payback image 
Mastercard websites in Europe and the US went down on Wednesday, with a group of hackers claiming responsibility.
The Anonymous activist group says it brought down the websites using distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in reprisal for Mastercard ceasing to process donations for Wikileaks. The whistleblower site is in the process of releasing hundreds of thousands of US government diplomatic cables.
"Tango down — mastercard.com — Restricting funds to Julian Assange and #Wikileaks. All countries should be down, too," read a Twitter post from an account linked to Anonymous on Wednesday. "There are some things Wikileaks can't do," a further tweet read, in an apparent parody of Mastercard's marketing slogans. "For everything else, there's Operation Payback."


Water and Skin Care

Water and Skin Care


Water plays a big relation in taking care of your skin. Have you ever wondered why does water wrinkle your skin? This is because water has certain elements that react to human skin. You might have heard a number of skincare experts saying that drinking water for your skin would help a lot. Quite true. Water is indeed vital to a beautiful skin. And much of it is because of the very nature of water.

The Nature of Water

Water primarily stimulates the circulation of blood, fluids, and the necessary elements inside our body. Additionally, it also controls and regulates the skin's natural balance. When water is warm, it has the power to hydrate, revitalize, detoxify, and oxygenate the skin. Warm water also gets rid of blackheads and makes large pores smaller. Drinking water makes the body more relaxed and invigorated. It also replaces the moisture lost due to everyday activities. Simply put, these are all the benefits of drinking water for skin.


Why Does Water Wrinkle Your Skin?

Staying underwater or soaked in a bathtub too much causes your skin to wrinkle. It is because the water washes off the sebum, an oily substance produced in the epidermis, which in turn, is the outer layer of the skin. Sebum actually blocks water from entering the skin. But it is washed off when you stay in the water too much and then absorbing water through skin starts. Without sebum, water penetrates the skin causing it to swell. The tip of the fingers and toes are the ones most affected. And it is because these parts of the skin hold water and sebum is abundant there too. But then again, once the absorbed water evaporates, the skin that has been wrinkled by water goes back to its normal form. So the wrinkles to the skin caused by water is really not something to worry about.

The Role of Water in Skin Care

Water keeps the skin hydrated.
Our skin is comprised of 90% water. And so without the right amount of water to keep that level, the skin tends to be unhealthy and dry. In fact, dehydration does not affect the skin alone, but the rest of the body as well, including the vital organs like kidneys and lungs.

IE9 introduces anti-tracking tool

IE9 introduces anti-tracking tool
Examining DNA, SPL

Microsoft's IE9 browser will have tools that control what data is collected about what a user does online.
The tools will let people stop a site they are visiting sharing information about what they do with other sites.
Users will be able to create lists stating that their data will only be shared with sites they want to see it.
The news comes as the US government criticises the computer industry for its slow progress on protecting user privacy.
In a blog post, Microsoft said many people did not realise that when they visit a website what they look for, view or buy there is often shared with other companies without that user's knowledge.
In IE9, Microsoft is planning to introduce what it calls "Tracking Protection Lists" that it says will work like the "Do Not Call" lists that limit who marketing firms can cold call.
The lists will be defined by users and limit the sharing of data only to those sites which a user is happy to see the information. When switched on, the system might mean that some adverts or other features do not appear when users visit sites.
Anyone will be able to write a list and share it with others so they can get the same protection, said Microsoft.
It also plans to release the formatting and standards for the lists under an open licence so other browser makers can adopt them.
The tracking system will be turned off by default and users will have to "opt in" to use it.
Microsoft said early versions of the tools would be included in the version of IE9 due for release in early 2011.
The announcement comes in the wake of a report from the US Federal Trade Commission report into online privacy.

WikiLeaks Dodges Obstacles To Stay Online

WikiLeaks Dodges Obstacles To Stay Online.

Mark Stephens, lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, talks to the media as he leaves a court

If the enemies of WikiLeaks are hoping Monday's arrest of Julian Assange will bring an end to his organization's disclosure of government secrets, his attorney Mark Stephens is anxious to set them straight.
"WikiLeaks will continue," Stephens said after Assange was taken into custody in London in response to a Swedish arrest warrant. "WikiLeaks is many thousands of journalists reporting news around the world."
Indeed, the detention of the website's founder may turn out to be just one more chapter in what is shaping up as a WikiLeaks war. The organization's many supporters remain determined to see the release of the secret documents still under WikiLeaks' control, and they're girding for battle.
When their website was shut down by a "distributed denial of service attack" (deliberately overloading the website with data requests), WikiLeaks engineers went to work and found alternative servers for the site, effectively demonstrating that the Internet is hard to control.
But the anti-WikiLeaks forces are also powerful. U.S. allies have endorsed a get-tough policy with the organization, extending all the way to Assange's native Australia, where the WikiLeaks operation was denounced again Tuesday by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Mastercard hit by Wikileaks revenge attacks

Internet hacktivists are claiming to have brought down the Mastercard website as revenge for the firm withdrawing services to Wikileaks.

Julian Assange

The Anonymous group of hackers have also brought down the website of the Swedish prosecutors office which is pursuing founder Julian Assange.

It has pledged to launch denial-of-service attacks on websites it sees as anti-Wikileaks.

Earlier it hit the Swiss bank that froze Mr Assange's assets.

PayPal, which has stopped processing donations to Wikileaks, has also been targetted.

Anonymous is a loose-knit group of hacktivists, with links to the notorious message board 4chan.

"We are glad to tell you that Mastercard is down and it's confirmed," the group tweeted.

Mastercard has not yet confirmed the attack but security experts have said the site has been under a so-called distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS), which swamp a site with so many requests that it becomes overwhelmed,

However, access appears to be possible intermittently and it is still visible from some countries, experts say.

Earlier the group confimed other targets: "In response to the arrest of Julian Assange, Anoynmous has taken down PostFinance.ch, who terminated Wikileaks bank account, using a distributed denial-of-service attack. Subsequently, Anonymous attacked http://www.aklagare.se, the Swedish Prosecutors office, also using a DDoS attack, and took the site down in under 10 seconds of beginning the attack," the group said in a statement.

Noa Bar Yosef, a senior analyst at security firm Imperva said the attacks are "very focused".

"It is recruiting people from within their own network. They are actually asking supporters to download a piece of code, the DDosing malware and upon a wake-up call the computer engages in the denial of service," he said.

Google Chrome OS heads to netbooks

Google Chrome OS heads to netbooks

Sticking a finger into Microsoft's largest business, Google said Tuesday it will start testing netbooks that run its competing operating system, Chrome OS.

While Microsoft dominates the operating-system market with Windows, Google's announcement represents the intensifying rivalry between the two tech giants.

The announcement of the pilot program came at a news event in San Francisco, with Google saying people could start signing up to test netbooks loaded with the operating system.

The netbooks are built for a networked world with the expectation that these computers will be continually connected to the Internet.

The devices lack hard drives, so the only applications they can run must be Web-based. People would also have to store their files on the Web instead of the computer.

The trade-off, Google says, is the netbook runs much faster without a hard drive.

"When you play with it and hopefully use it every day, you will realize it does in fact work," Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said at the news conference.

The operating system looks very similar to Google's browser, called Chrome without the OS suffix.

The netbook startup screen looks like the browser startup page.

The pilot device, called Cr-48, will have a 12.1-inch screen, come with a Verizon 3G wireless plan free for the first 100 megabytes and have eight hours of battery life.

The keyboard is full-size but will not have function or caps-lock keys, to respect the etiquette of the Web, said Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management for Google Chrome.

Google did not say how much the devices will cost when they start selling.


WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrested- latimes.com

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrested- latimes.com


Julian Assange is ordered to remain in custody in Britain until a hearing next week on the WikiLeaks founder's possible extradition to Sweden, where he's wanted for questioning over allegations he sexually assaulted two women.

Reporting from London —
Julian Assange, the founder of the controversial WikiLeaks website, was arrested here Tuesday and ordered to remain in custody until a hearing next week on his possible extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he sexually assaulted two women.

Assange, 39, turned himself in to police Tuesday morning, hours after Britain received a formal warrant for his arrest from Swedish authorities. Assange denies any wrongdoing and says he will fight the attempt to extradite him, beginning with a hearing Dec. 14.

That could be the start of a legal battle that could drag on for weeks or even months, in part because the case against him in Sweden remains rather murky. Assange, who is Australian, is eager to avoid extradition for fear that it could set the stage for him to be sent to the U.S. if prosecutors there charge him with offenses relating to the WikiLeaks disclosures of State Department diplomatic cables and classified Pentagon files related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Those leaked files have turned Assange into an international figure, vilified by the U.S. and governments around the world for spilling official secrets but lionized by activists demanding a free flow of information. In Washington, the Obama administration blames Assange for recklessly damaging U.S. relations with other countries and even aiding terrorists.

A spokesman for WikiLeaks vowed that Assange's arrest would not affect the website's plans to continue publishing its cache of confidential documents.

The accusations against Assange in Sweden have dogged him since the summer, before his organization began releasing portions of its huge trove of rifled State Department cables. The allegations stem from separate sexual encounters he had with two women in August, which Swedish prosecutors say may have involved molestation, "unlawful coercion" and rape.

Assange insists that the liaisons were consensual. His lawyer, Mark Stephens, characterizes the case as a "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex."

Assange's supporters accuse the U.S. of pushing the case behind the scenes as a way of embarrassing, harassing and silencing him.

Tuesday's arrest came as the net around Assange and WikiLeaks continued to tighten.

Several days ago, Amazon.com booted WikiLeaks from its Internet servers, and the online pay service PayPal also severed its links with the website. On Monday, a Swiss bank froze an account Assange had opened to raise funds, and on Tuesday, Visa announced that it too was suspending its business with WikiLeaks, the Associated Press reported.

Stephens has denounced Sweden as "one of the lickspittle states" that have kowtowed to American demands in the past, particularly by assisting in the controversial practice of "extraordinary rendition" of terrorism suspects.

The lawyer also asserts that Assange has been willing from the start to cooperate with Swedish authorities in their investigation, but that his offers to submit to some form of questioning, both in Sweden while he was still in the country and later in London, were repeatedly rebuffed.

"We are in the rather exotic position of not having seen any of the evidence [of the crimes] that Mr. Assange is accused of," Stephens told reporters after Tuesday's preliminary hearing.

In a packed London courtroom Tuesday afternoon, Assange formally refused voluntary extradition to Sweden and asked to be released on bail. Throughout the hourlong hearing, Assange, in a dark suit, sat quietly in a glassed-in booth reserved for defendants.
Prosecutors objected to the bail request, saying that Assange's nomadic lifestyle made him a flight risk. They noted that he first gave the court only a post office box as an address and, when that was disallowed, a street address in Victoria state in his native Australia.

The judge sided with the prosecution, despite the presence of several high-profile people willing to act as Assange's bond guarantors, including the British filmmaker Ken Loach and socialite Jemima Khan, the former wife of famed Pakistani cricket player Imran Khan.

Stephens called the outcome "unfortunate" but said Assange would make another bail application.

"This is going to go viral," he said. "Many people believe Mr. Assange to be innocent, myself included. Many people believe the prosecution to be politically motivated."

He expressed confidence that Britain's judicial system was "robust enough" not to be intimidated by political pressure, but declared the same could not be said for Sweden's.

The case has been a somewhat tortuous one, with Swedish authorities disagreeing among themselves as to whether there were grounds to pursue Assange for questioning. Last month, a court in Stockholm paved the way for a warrant to be issued against Assange, who by then was staying at an undisclosed location in Britain.

The first warrant apparently contained an error, which prevented British authorities from executing it until a corrected version was issued. The amended European arrest warrant was served Monday; by that evening, Stephens signaled that his client would turn himself in.

The warrant is an instrument that allows for quicker-than-usual extradition between European nations. If Assange is sent back to Sweden, and if authorities there decide enough evidence exists to prosecute him for sex crimes, he could face several years in prison if found guilty.

WikiLeaks founder arrested in London, threatens to release most sensitive documents

WikiLeaks founder arrested in London, threatens to release most sensitive documents


The 39-year-old Australian, Julian Paul Assange, founder of the controversial Internet website WikiLeaks was arrested by British police authorities on the strength of a European warrant of arrest. Assange was accused by Swedish authorities with one count of rape, two counts of sexual molestation, and one count of unlawful coercion which were allegedly committed sometime in August 2010.

Assange vehemently denied these accusations, said Mark Stephens, his London-based lawyer, alleging that the case was stemmed from a dispute over consensual but unprotected sex with two women. One of the women was quoted as saying that it was indeed a consensual sex but it all ended with abuse. She denied the claims of Assange’s lawyers that the case was orchestrated by the Pentagon.

Stephens on the other hand accused that the case lodged by the Swedish government was orchestrated by Pentagon who he believes is the “unseen hand” trying to pin down his client purposely as a repressive move to contain further leaking of U.S. sensitive documents that had been perceived will affect the national security interest of the United States.

Another London-based lawyer of Assange, Jennifer Robinson, said that her client would likely resist extradition move by the Swedish authorities because she believes he would be turned over to the U.S. government who had been outraged because of the recent publication of the so-called sensitive documents through the Internet.

On the other hand, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was disheartened by the action of one of her constituent saying that the posting on the web of the U.S. diplomatic cables was grossly an irresponsible action. She underscored that the publication of the said classified documents would not have been possible if there was no illegal act committed by Assange.

The Wikileaks founder responded in a written opinion published by an Australian newspaper by saying that her government is trying to stop him from leaking the documents because it doesn’t like him to reveal the truth. He blamed the Australian government that it has no interest of defending him and other WikiLeaks personnel against the many public threats of violence. He expected that the Australian government would be defending one of her citizens but it all boiled down to a wholly unsubstantiated accusation of illegality.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government is now putting intense pressure on WikiLeaks and to those people helping it by presently conducting intensive investigations to determine the culpability of Assange and his associates of possible prosecution under the U.S. Espionage Law.

It was reported also that the website is now under heightened hackers’ attack and struggling to stay online amid pressure from world governments. It has been receiving assistance from computer-savvy advocates by setting up hundreds of the same kind of websites all over the world.

Meantime, Assange warned that when arrest will be effected on WikiLeaks staff, the heavily encrypted version of his most important documents will be instantly made public.